“The Wrong Amazon is Burning”

Micah Hendler

Micah Hendler is a musical changemaker working to harness the power in each of our voices to make a difference. After studying international relations at Yale, Micah blended his academic knowledge of conflict and mediation with his artistry to found the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, an Israeli-Palestinian music and dialogue project. The chorus empowers young singers from East and West Jerusalem to share their truths, become leaders in their communities, and inspire others to join their work for peace, justice, inclusion, and equality.

Micah recently moved back to the US to work with the Justice Choir, a grassroots movement using the collective power of music to promote social and environmental justice, and Braver Angels, a relationship-building initiative depolarising the Red-Blue divide through dialogue. Named as a Forbes 30 Under 30, Micah also writes for Forbes about music, resistance, and global affairs.

As co-founder of Raise Your Voice Labs, Micah performed in and edited our music video, which was inspired by the improv song he performed during our class brainstorming workshop. Micah also mentored several of our participants in creating additional lyrics and content, collaborating with students to explore the benefits of leveraging music as a tool for peacebuilding and environmental justice.

Emma Morgan-Bennett

Emma is a visual media artist and activist-scholar particularly drawn to questions surrounding race, reproduction, and the body. Committed to Black Radical Joy, Emma sees liberation within the creative celebration and engagement of those who have survived and thrived in spite of the odds.

A born and bred New Yorker from Washington Heights, Emma is currently studying filmmaking at Goldsmiths, University of London as a Marshall Scholar. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 2020 with High Honors having written her Medical Anthropology thesis on Radical Doulas and the Black Maternal Mortality Crisis in Austin, Texas.

Outside of the classroom, Emma spends her time working as a full-spectrum doula (physically and emotionally supporting pregnant people through their reproductive journeys), working on her creative projects, and writing.

Emma served as a Group Facilitator for the Spring 2021 Community Audit of this course, taught a special session on the use of humour and parody in anti-racism, and mentored several students’ visual contributions to the piece.

Garrett Turner

A native of Florence, Alabama, Garrett Turner is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. Garrett majored in music and creative writing at Emory, where he recently served as an Arts and Social Justice Fellow using theatre to honour known victims of the 1906 Atlanta race massacre.

Garrett has studied at the University of St. Andrews as a Bobby Jones Scholar and holds masters degrees from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Queen Mary. He is currently writing Eleanor: A Church Story, a musical about a young Black woman from Tennessee who stages a mini revolution in her church when she is banned from preaching because she’s a girl.

In 2019, Garrett worked alongside Syracuse drama students while premiering Thoughts of a Colored Man with Syracuse Stage. He continued that collaboration as part of the “Climates of Resistance Raise Your Voice” project, helping students consider how we can use music and art to advocate for sustainable justice. He will also MCed the “Climates of Resistance” Community Showcase on 20 May 2021, where this music video premiered.

Reylon Yount

As a biracial Chinese American growing up in San Francisco, Reylon began learning yangqin (the Chinese hammered dulcimer) as a way to stay connected to his heritage. They have since introduced the rare instrument to the world stage, featured alongside Rhiannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma on Silkroad’s GRAMMY Award-winning record “Sing Me Home”.

While completing undergraduate studies in Environmental Science and Public Policy at Harvard University, Reylon conducted research for environmental organisations in China, Australia, and the U.S. They then moved to the UK to complete two master’s degrees at SOAS University of London and Goldsmiths University of London. Reylon now co-directs Tangram, an artist collective envisioning a world beyond the China-West dichotomy.

In addition to serving as a Group Facilitator for the Spring 2021 Community Audit of this course, Reylon worked with Syracuse students to explore the connections between racialised violence and environmental conflict, asking whether music-based environmental activism can help redress both racism and climate change.

Austin Willacy

For the past 23 years, Austin Willacy has directed Youth in Arts’ ‘Til Dawn, an award-winning teen a cappella group that empowers youth to find their voices in many ways. He is also a veteran member of The House Jacks, with whom he has produced 10 full-length albums and completed multiple world tours.

Austin has served on the boards of the Rainforest Action Network, a grassroots effort taking action against industries driving climate change, and Freight & Salvage, a nonprofit community arts organisation promoting public understanding of traditional music with a focus on racial and gender justice. As a facilitator for YES!, Austin has co-founded Arts for Social Change Jams in the US, Turkey, and India; the Black Diaspora Jam; and the Mens Jam.

In addition to serving as primary composer and sound mixer, Austin used his political and community organising experience to help students consider what effective public participation can look like in the midst of mass inequities.